팔츠의 란다우‬에서 가장 멋진 ‪18‬개의 천연기념물

There is a large, shady rest area here.

The reason given in the files for this expenditure is that the spring was not only used for spa purposes, but also “for the normal use of field workers”. The contract was awarded to the building contractor Martin Weigandt via a minimum auction, who then invoiced the city of Landau for 308.16 guilders, which meant that the city coffers were burdened with extraordinary additional costs of 111.19 guilders in 1826. It is possible that the terraced semicircle, including the steps leading down to the spring, were only created during this “restoration”; however, this can no longer be determined with certainty. In the 1950s, the sulphur spring once again became the focus of public attention. At that time, efforts were made to build on the centuries-old use of the spring for medical purposes and to have the healing effects of its water verified by scientific research. The report drawn up by Senior Government and Medical Councillor Dr. However, a report prepared by Schnelle, director of the Balneological Institute at the University of Munich, in June 1957 put a quick end to dreams of a state spa: “Bad Landau” never came to fruition, despite all the efforts made since the early 18th century. Finally, it should be noted that the Landau spring is by no means the only natural sulphurous spring in the immediate vicinity. Arnoldi reported in his writings on a visit to the Edenkoben sulphur spring for comparison purposes, where similar soil conditions were found and it was found that the water there hardly differed in smell and taste from the Landau counterpart. Daniel Häberle mentions other springs in his 1912 work on the mineral springs of the Rhine Palatinate. At that time there were sulphur springs in Insheim (Gewann Bugenhöhe), in Herxheim (south of the road to Rohrbach), in Ilbesheim (in house no. 145), in Hainfeld (several in Kreuzgasse), in Roschbach (Hauptstraße), in Edesheim (west of the village in Schulacker) and near Büchelberg. However, none of them played a role comparable to the Landau sulphur spring in earlier times. Harald Bruckert 5.4.2018

In addition, Arnoldi reports as an eyewitness of development work on the spring that was carried out in the years after 1700. He does not give an exact date; the most likely date is after the end of the last (fourth) siege, which lasted from June 6 to August 20, 1713. The Protestant pastor Breiden, on whose land the spring lay, had generously made it accessible to the public, for which the author gives him great praise. Then there is talk of extensive earthworks and catching works: “In excavating this, Mr. Senior [Breiden], to his lasting fame, showed himself to be particularly careful, as the ground and the rock were spatially raised and dug out cleanly, a good level below the ground, down to a rock, above which twelve springs, perpendicular or vertical, give out a quantity of the purest crystal-clear water, which are covered with a fine grate and framed with the best wood, stored ad interim, and constantly throw out excess water through two pipes […]” If the work described here was actually carried out in this way, and the author could hardly have exaggerated it greatly or even invented it for obvious reasons, it follows inevitably that the spring was completely re-framed at that time. This is also supported by the (now lost) Latin inscription, which is printed in Arnoldi's work with a German translation and which was placed in the area of the fountain (Inscriptio Neptuniae Prolis). The report of the pleasantly communicative city physician does not, however, fit well with the year 1630, which is still visible on the fountain today. Since the council minutes for that year are missing, it is not possible to say whether work was carried out there at that time; it is conceivable that parts of an older version were reused at the beginning of the 18th century. A good century later, the fountain had fallen into such disrepair that a thorough renovation had to be considered. In the Landau municipality's budget for 1825, the sum of 197.27 guilders was estimated for its restoration.

The physician does not fail to warn against the improper use of sulphur water: "Duo cum faciunt idem, non est idem [If two do the same thing, it is not the same], there is a difference between a Hippocratic monkey, unauthorized idiots and scribblers and a solid reality." Finally, he admits that in some cases medicine can no longer help: "There is no herb for death, when the time set by God for man is over and the clock of life has run out, nothing helps, we must join the ranks." The excerpts give an impression of the diction of the work, typical of the era, which previous generations would have disparagingly described as "baroque bombast". Regardless of such questions of style and taste, the booklet is indisputably a valuable document of medical and cultural history from the time around the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries. More interesting for the historian are Arnoldi's comments on the history of the sulphur spring. He reports that the healing properties of the spring water were "known long before the fortification here in the memory of Mann [i.e. since time immemorial]." The fact that the spring had been used as a healing spring long before Landau was converted into a modern fortress between 1688 and 1691 serves the city physician as an argument against the popular belief that was probably widespread at the time that the smell and taste of the spring came from "bombs dropped during sieges and buried human bodies" and was therefore "mummy-like". The four sieges of Landau during the War of the Spanish Succession (1702, 1703, 1704 and 1713) that had taken place just a few years earlier in 1715 had obviously left a strong impression on contemporaries.

This did not change in later centuries, on the contrary, the sulphur spring seems to have become even more popular as a healing spring, as evidenced by a booklet printed in Worms in 1715 with the baroque-sounding title Alma proles Neptunia Landaviae benigne prosiliens, i.e. highly pleasant and beneficial health spring in Landau. The author was Landau's town physician Arnoldi, who dedicated his work to "the highly and noble / highly and well-educated / prudent, highly and wise mayors / mayors / marshals and councillors of the town of Landau / my special patrons and patrons". Arnoldi praises the healing powers of the "mineral healthy and wonderful" sulphur spring and counts it "among the excellent baths known from time to time in Europe". Long explanations about the use of the healing water are followed by a list of numerous illnesses which, in the author's opinion, can all be treated with it: "Herbey! you who are panting and tied to the chest, you will get good air and breath here. Herbey! all those who are tormented and, to say the least, tortured by gout, gout, grit, stones, scorbutic flows, Venus boils, bad scabies, leprosy or other painful things, you will find here the confident anchor against the storm of your pain. Herbey! you who have represented Junonem or Venerem before this and have now become pale and jaundiced through transgression of the rules of life, this lovely daughter of Neptune will gracefully wipe away what makes you stupid and sad. [...] Yes! I do not hesitate to invite those who find themselves without comfort or help elsewhere to the well […] Thus our praised Proles Neptunia has also come to a desired and happy end in the face of stubborn fevers, smallpox, rampant epidemics and many other dubious illnesses.”

The information on the stele is misleading in one important detail. It does give the year 1473 as the date of the earliest "evidence", but qualifies it by saying that this is "not documented". What is meant is that there is no written source evidence or no longer exists. But that is certainly the case, in the form of a copy of a document in a copy book from the early 16th century in the Landau town archives. In it we learn that two citizens of Landau donated a five-foot-wide corridor from their gardens to the residents of the "Gutleuthaus" outside the town near the St. Justin Chapel (see "Im Justus!") in order to give them unhindered access to the spring water, which is considered to have healing properties. The town council wanted to provide the path with a reel at the entrance and fence it on both sides so that the sick would not be bothered by carts. The donors did not act entirely selflessly: with their donation they wanted to do something for the salvation of their souls, according to medieval custom, because in return the clergyman of the Gutleuthaus was obliged to read a requiem mass for the families of the two citizens in the chapel every year on the four days of Lent. In addition, the residents of the Gutleuthaus had to pray three Paternosters and Hail Marys for the repose of the donors' souls. It can therefore be stated that as early as the late Middle Ages, the sick who were housed in the Gutleuthaus, located outside the city walls, for reasons of epidemic protection, visited the sulphur spring because they trusted in the healing properties of its water.

The Landau sulphur fountain, a natural and cultural monument The sulphur fountain is located directly on the western outskirts of Landau, on a farm track that runs parallel to Hans-Boner-Straße and is easily accessible from Godramsteiner Straße. As an important natural and cultural monument, it holds a special place among Landau's historic fountains. The sandstone semicircle, which can be accessed via seven steps, bears the year 1630 and welcomes visitors with an intense sulphur smell reminiscent of rotten eggs. Renovated in 2007 on the initiative of the German Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND), the facility now presents itself in new splendour. Since then, a sandstone stele erected next to it has also provided information about the history of the spring, which has played a major role in the healing practices of broad sections of the population for centuries.

The paths through the vineyards are well developed and ideal for cycling